The billionaire duo want to slash government spending for Planned Parenthood and PBS
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have laid out their plans for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Despite being labeled an “outside of government” group by President-elect Donald Trump, the two say that DOGE will work closely with Congress and the executive branch.
The group aims to drastically slash federal spending and regulations, with Musk pointing to a target of $2 trillion in cost-cutting. Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and billionaire entrepreneur, has said he expects “certain agencies to be deleted outright.”
In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal (NWSA), the duo said Wednesday that they would “serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees,” a distinction intended to allow the businessmen to retain their financial interests. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla $TSLA (TSLA), which have received billions of dollars in government contracts, and the executive has several other companies also regulated by federal agencies.
Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that they are working with the Trump transition team to hire a team of “small-government crusaders.” Last week, DOGE began accepting applications delivered through direct messages on the social media site X $TWTR, seeking to hire individuals willing to work more than 80 hours per week.
“This team will work in the new administration closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget,” they wrote. It’s still unclear exactly how they will formally establish DOGE.
Besides working with the federal agency that manages the president’s budget, DOGE could have influence in the House of Representatives. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to launch a subcommittee—chaired by controversial Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene—that will work with DOGE, Fox News reports.
“I’m excited to chair this new subcommittee designed to work hand in hand with President Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and the entire DOGE team,” Greene told Fox. “We will identify and investigate the waste, corruption and absolutely useless parts of our federal government.”
As for the source of those cuts, DOGE is eyeing headcount reductions, federal spending “being used in ways that Congress never intended,” and regulations deemed wasteful by the duo. In the opinion piece, the DOGE leaders named a few targets.
Musk and Ramaswamy said they would chop funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The group was founded by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 and has supported the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, which Musk and other conservatives often criticize. The DOGE leaders also hope to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit that provides reproductive and sexual health services. Much of the nonprofit’s funding comes from government reimbursements and grants.
DOGE will also work with legal experts at government agencies to apply recent rulings and hand Trump a list of regulations they would like him to freeze through executive order. The group will tackle how agencies order goods and services, writing that large-scale audits would “yield significant savings,” pointing to the Pentagon’s latest failed audit.
As for federal workers, Musk and Ramaswamy plan to work with government agencies to identify the minimum number of staffers needed for departments to “perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions.” They float recommending Trump issue incentives for early retirement or voluntary buyouts.
“Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited,” they wrote. “Employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect, and DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector.”
Trump’s pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has suggested big cuts at the department, including issuing mass layoffs. The president-elect has pledged to dismantle the Department of Education, a long-standing conservative goal. That department employs 4,400 people, according to its website.
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